'Cain TV' personality Lewis Brown has been dead over a year

Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain has been making waves again recently with the launch of his own conservative online network — Cain TV. Turns out on the the people prominently featured in the channel’s promo video is a homeless former college basketball star, Lewis Brown, who passed away back in 2011. Cain was asked about Brown on CNN and mistakenly said he’d died last week. Mediaite reports:

Herman Cain celebrated Independence Day yesterday by launching his own programming website, Cain TV, a project that many did not know exactly what to make of when he first announced it. With the programming out and on the open, CNN’s Kyra Phillips talked to Cain and asked about one of the most interesting segments on his website, “Street Smarts with Lewis Brown,” and how he found the idea for the eccentric commentary from Brown, who is a homeless person from Hollywood who Cain announced had passed away after being asked about his show.

“It’s not overtly political, it’s covertly conservative,” Cain told Phillips about the programming, later adding that he began the project because “we need a voice” in the political world and “too many people are apathetic.” Contrary to the blaring motto in the promo for the network (“We Are Not Stupid”), Cain told Phillips, “I believe too many people are stupid because too many people don’t challenge some of the information our leaders give to us.”

Phillips then asked about Lewis Brown, noting that he was an interesting and eye-grabbing person. Cain explained that his producer “just happened to be walking down the street one day, came across Lewis, asked him if he wanted to say something, and put it on film.” Cain described Brown as intelligent, saying “even though he is a homeless person doesn’t mean he is clueless. He probably knows more about world issues… than a lot of people who think they know whats going on.” Then he announced that Brown would not be making any more episodes of Street Smarts, because “Lewis passed away just last week unexpectedly,” to Phillips’ shock. “Chris went back to shoot another episode, talked to some of his friends, found out he passed away with a heart attack.”